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OPINION

My Turn: Legal marijuana in Arizona would mean more deaths, crashes

Todd A. Griffith, AZ I See It
Published 10:45 p.m. MT June 5, 2016

CLOSE

Pot DUI laws

Scientist: Why would Arizona voters approve an initiative that protects drivers stoned on marijuana, even if they cause crashes and deaths?

This Oct. 8, 2012 file photo shows the wrecked Subaru Impreza in which four people died as it is loaded onto a flatbed truck on the Southern State Parkway in West Hempstead, N.Y., after and early-morning accident. At the wheel was a New York teenager, Joseph Beer, who had smoked about $20 worth of marijuana, before getting into the car with four friends, and driving over 100 mph before crashing into trees with such force that it split the car in half. As states liberalize their marijuana laws, public officials and safety advocates worry that more drivers high on pot will lead to a spike in traffic deaths. Researchers who have studied the issue, though, are divided over whether toking before taking the wheel in fact leads to more accidents.(Photo: Frank Eltman/AP)

In my profession, I have seen too much death, injury and damage caused by individuals driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs.

Marijuana is the most prevalent drug causing impairment after alcohol. It contributes substantially to DUI carnage, even though statistics indicate only about 8 percent of the population regularly uses marijuana.

This can only mean that Arizona will also face major increases in death and injury from marijuana DUI crashes if marijuana becomes a legal recreational drug here.

That legal marijuana will substantially increase impaired driving is not an opinion; it is demonstrated by facts from Colorado and Washington, where marijuana is legal.

What happened in other states

In Colorado, marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 92 percent from just after marijuana was commercialized there — a rate nearly 12 times higher than the increase in all traffic deaths.

There is absolutely no reason to believe that if marijuana is legalized in Arizona, death and injury due to marijuana-impaired drivers would not also increase along those same trajectories.

The damage inflicted on families is tremendous, but it isn’t the only impact. There’s also financial damage. Alcohol-related crashes caused an economic loss of more than $521 million in Arizona in 2014, according to Arizona Motor Vehicle Crash Facts.

The additional DUI crashes that would result from increasing marijuana will add many more millions in economic loss.

Marijuana isn't safer than alcohol

Marijuana advocates routinely argue that marijuana is safer than alcohol. They’re wrong. Marijuana affects cognitive functions just as alcohol does. It impairs drivers through distortion of time and distance, loss of coordination, increased reaction times and inability to maintain lateral travel.

In addition, Arizona statistics show that marijuana and alcohol routinely appear together in DUI drivers. Legalization of marijuana will only encourage greater use of both impairing substances. There are now entrepreneurs in marijuana-legalized states who are planning to sell alcoholinfused with marijuana.

The pairing of marijuana and alcohol is particularly disturbing, because when combined they interact to impair driving to a greater degree than each individually.

Why protect drivers from prosecution?

Legalized marijuana will result in huge increases in DUI crashes, deaths and costs to the citizens of Arizona. However, there is a final concern that makes the situation more dire.

CON: KIDS CAN GET POT EASIER. Most children who drink or
smoke get alcohol or drugs from their homes or those of friends. Legalizing pot
for adults will make it even easier for kids to consume it. Brennan Linsley/AP